including Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

16Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Konecranes presents the world’s first hybrid reach stacker

Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™ offering lifting equipment and services that improve productivity in a wide variety of industries. The company is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd (symbol: KCR1V). With over 12,000 employees at more than 600 locations in almost 50 countries we have the resources, technology and determination to deliver on the promise of Lifting Businesses™. Konecranes is proud to announce the introduction of the world’s first hybrid reach stacker - the SMV 4531 TB5 HLT for container handling, with a lifting capacity of 45 tons. It features a hybrid diesel/electric driveline, electrified hydraulic lifting system, and a super capacitor based energy storage. This innovative lift truck will cut fuel consumption and emissions w...

26Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

A company that knows how to make things look easy

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa Alcatel-Lucent has a success story to tell. Its stories, references and activities in Africa in 2012 is a lesson for many other organizations who what to make it big on the continent. In a recently published document Alcatel-Lucent shares references, successes, achievement and activities in Africa; as well as vision of African Market and broadband according to Daniel Jaeger, Vice-President of Alcatel-Lucent in Africa. News from Algiers, Algeria reveal that broadband for Africa, realize the potential of a connected world and tackle rural inclusion. I – Alcatel-Lucent presence, activities and foot print in Africa. II- Broadband in Africa, vision and view according to Daniel Jaeger Vice-President of Alcatel-Lucent Africa. III - Alcatel-Lucent’s pres...

20Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

A ten-year strategy to support the development of social protection systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Social protection, which comprises both social assistance and social insurance programs, is a powerful tool to reduce poverty and vulnerability The World Bank has a new 10-year strategy for social protection in Africa (2012-2022) The vision is to help governments build country-owned national social protection systems Social protection, once thought of as exclusive to rich and middle-income countries, is being increasingly employed in low-income countries in Africa, where policymakers are recognizing its potential as a powerful tool to reduce poverty, vulnerability, and social inequality. The food, fuel and financial crises of 2008 have shown the vital role that social protection can play in cushioning poor and vulnerable households from shocks. Acro...

13Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

African Medical Device Market: Facts and Figures 2012

NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: African Medical Device Market: Facts and Figures 2012 Why look at Africa? With a population of over a billion people, Africa represents a vast potential market. The political and economic picture is improving in many areas, as conflicts are brought under control, and governments show a new willingness to use export revenues to boost healthcare. Levels of external aid remain strong. While this can be a double-edged sword for the economy of the country in question, a large number of development projects are ongoing. Virtually the entire continent is wholly reliant on imports, which rose by an average of 7.5% per year in the 2006-10 period. The least-develop...

13Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Energy, Green Energy, South Africa News

How will South African industry deal with tariff hikes and carbon taxes?

African Utility Week to assist Large Power Users to face energy obstacles The proverbial axe is falling on ‘business as usual` as every industry in South Africa, from mining to manufacturing to retail, is cringing at the thought of rising energy tariffs and the impending implementation of a carbon tax. Stemming the tide of rising tariffs On the receiving end of tariff hikes, industry is dealing with three significant elements, namely the cost of electricity, uncertainty around sufficient electricity supply and carbon emission management. According to Shaun Nel, Project Director & Advisor, Energy Intensive Users Group of Southern Africa (EIUG), “the current request by Eskom to raise electricity prices by 16% per annum over 5 years will have a significantly negative ...

13Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, South Africa News

African Banking innovation sees AfDB approving multi-currency line of credit of USD 300m

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa The African Development Bank has extended the equivalent of USD 300 million to FirstRand Bank Limited to support projects across Africa This week an announcement from Tunis, Tunisia, revealed that the African Development Bank has approved a seven-year multi-currency line of credit for an amount equivalent to USD 300 million to FirstRand Bank Limited (FRB) of South Africa to finance a wide range of projects in local currencies and across Africa. And most African countries are characterized by low discretionary rates of domestic savings. As a result, the intermediation capacity of the financial sectors is limited, leading to the gap currently being filled with borrowings denominated in foreign currency. However, this introduces a currency mismatch in the fi...

12Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy, South Africa News

JinkoSolar to Supply 81 MW WBHO-Building Energy in South Africa

SHANGHAI, Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. ("JinkoSolar" or the "Company") (NYSE: JKS), a leading global solar power product manufacturer, today announced that it has signed a contract with fix price to supply WBHO-Building Energy (Pty) Ltd. ("WBHO-BE") with 81 MW of photovoltaic (PV) modules for the solar PV park project in Gamagara Local Municipality, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. The project will be developed, designed, constructed and commissioned by WBHO- BE and is, so far, the largest project in African Continent and one of the first approved under the South African government's Renewable Energy Program. JinkoSolar will deliver a total of 344,540 PV high quality solar panels for the project, which is expected to generate...

4Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy

SunPower Corporation to Supply Toshiba with 20.1 Percent Efficiency Solar Panel for Japanese Market

New 20.1 Percent Efficiency Module Continues Toshiba’s High Efficiency Leadership in Japanese Residential Market SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR) today announced that it will supply Toshiba with its new world-record efficiency solar panel beginning in December, extending Toshiba’s solar efficiency leadership in the Japanese residential market. SunPower’s new E20/250NE solar panel features a 20.1 percent efficiency rating delivering 250 watts per 72-cell module, and will be marketed exclusively by Toshiba in the Japanese homes segment. The module features the all-back contact Maxeon™ solar cell designed and manufactured by SunPower Corporation which offers world-record efficiency. Since SunPower first partnered with Toshiba in 2010, it has de...

3Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

Airtel and Ericsson making history in African network transformation

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa Airtel has completed the largest network transformation in African Telecoms history - and is partnering with Ericsson for the comprehensive upgrade of a network to deliver superior service. Otherwise known as Bharti Airtel, the leading telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, recently said that it has undertaken an end-to-end network transformation program across its mobile operations in 16 African countries. The program, which is the largest of its kind on the African continent, in partnership with Ericsson involved a comprehensive upgrade and expansion of network elements on all of Airtel’s African operations, including switching, radio, network management, data, charging, and consumer-services platforms and sys...

20Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy, Zimbabwe News

Air quality deteriorates in Zimbabwe’s main cities

by Wallace Mawire A report produced by the Institute of Environmental Studies (IES) on the proposed National Climate Change Response Strategy in Zimbabwe has revealed that there is increasing evidence of deteriorating air quality in the country's main cities. The IES, a department of the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) was contracted by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management to come up with a national climate change response strategy for Zimbabwe. The strategy report says that studies conducted by the Air Pollution Information Network for Africa show that carbon monoxide constituted 74% of Zimbabwe's total emissions using 2000 as the base year and was mostly from savanna and vegetation burning including forest fires. "The other pollutants such as nitrogen oxide c...